computerfandomcom-20200222-history
IBM PC-DOS
Versions *PC DOS 1.0 - August 1981 - initial release with the first IBM-PC (COMMAND.COM is 3231 bytes. FAT-12, with no subdirectory support. *PC DOS 1.1 - May 1982 - support for 320 kB double-sided floppy disk. COMMAND.COM has 4959 bytes. *PC-DOS 2.0 - March 1983 - support for IBM Personal Computer XT. had a maximum disk partition size of 10MB, came on two 180 kB 5.25-inch disks or one double-sided 360 kB disk. COMMAND.COM has 17664 bytes. * PC DOS 2.1 - October 1983 - support for IBM PCjr. COMMAND.COM has 17792 bytes. * PC DOS 3.0 - August 1984 - support for IBM Personal Computer/AT. supports the AT's DS/HD 1.2MB floppy disk drives. Introduces FAT-16 file system on hard drives. COMMAND.COM has 22042 bytes. * PC DOS 3.1 - March 1985 - COMMAND.COM has 23210 bytes. * PC-DOS 3.2 - December 1985 - required 128 kB RAM and came on one 720 kB disk or two 5.25 disks. COMMAND.COM has 23791 bytes. * PC DOS 3.3 - April 1987 - support for IBM PS/2: 1.44 MB floppy disk drives, added codepage support (international character sets). COMMAND.COM is 25307 bytes. *PC DOS 4.0 - June 1988 - added DOS Shell & support for hard disks of >32MB using the format from Compaq DOS 3.31. But it had many bugs and less free conventional memory than before. Generally regarded as an unpopular release. COMMAND.COM has 37637 bytes. *PC-DOS 4.01 - August 1988 - came on two 3.5-inch DD diskettes (720K) and required 256 kB RAM. Mostly bug fixes. Maximum disk partition size was 2000MB. *PC-DOS 5.0 - May 1991 - three 3.5-inch DD diskettes. Able to run DOS in HMA. COMMAND.COM has 47987 bytes. *PC-DOS 5.00.1 - February 1992 - bug fixes. COMMAND.COM has 48025 bytes. *PC-DOS 5.02 - September 1992 - adds support for portable computers and ISO fonts COMMAND.COM has 47990 bytes. *PC-DOS 6.0 - May 1993 - Beta version, not released. *PC-DOS 6.1 - June 1993 - four 3.5 inch 1.44M disks. PC-DOS and MS-DOS now offer significantly different utilities. IBM dropped QBasic and its associated MS-DOS text editor. Replaced editor with E; but added no programming language. COMMAND.COM has 52589 bytes. *PC-DOS 6.2 - not released *PC-DOS 6.3 - December 1993 - five 3.5 inch 1.44M disks. Enhanced several utility programs. Became popular with OEMs because MS-DOS had stopped stand-alone, non-Windows releases at their version 6.22. COMMAND.COM has 54654 bytes. *PC-DOS 7 - November 1994 - could purchase in floppy or CD-ROM format. The diskette set had a normal 1.44M installation floppy and four in a special 1.88M XDF format. Added the REXX interpretive language. Included enhanced utilities. COMMAND.COM has 52956 bytes. *PC DOS 2000 - April 1998 - six diskettes (installation and five XDF) or one CD-ROM. A Year 2000 Certified release of v7.0 with fixes for Year 2000 problem (Y2K). Floppies were labeled "PC DOS 2000, Includes PC DOS 7". COMMAND.COM has 52965 bytes. =See Also External Links References Wikipedia article on IBM PC DOS PC-DOS